Mrdesplaines

You may be picturing a vending machine on a sidewalk, ready to dispense pot brownies to anyone with correct change. That's not quite what the backers of the machine have in mind.

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The Borgata Casino is suing one of the most famous poker players in the world, claiming he won close to $10 million by cheating with a technique called edge sorting.

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In “Almost Human,” Tested takes a trip to Kernerworks, a company based in San Rafael, California run by former Hollywood special effects artists that specializes in the creation of trauma mannequins for military training. The company arose as computer graphics eclipsed the use of old school special effects in Hollywood blockbusters. Kernerworks employees, who have worked on films like Star Wars and Gremlins, now create incredibly lifelike dummies for field training that simulate things like breathing and bleeding.

What do special effects veterans do when Hollywood relies increasingly less on practical effects and more on computer generated imagery? The effects experts at Kernerworks [...] turned their fabrication experience into developing and building realistic trauma mannequins the military to train field medics. These robots not only behave realistically to simulate injuries, they look incredibly lifelike as well–some even have the capability to spurt blood from their wounds.

photos via Tested

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

The Firefly is a Kickstarter-funded, softball-sized lamp that fills a room with hundreds of blue laser light points. The lamp is made of 99.6-percent recyclable materials and uses only 0.4 watts of energy, powered by an adapter or two AAA batteries.

Our laser lamp does not “pool” around the light source like LED or other traditional sources; the laser light is “thrown” long distances and maintains its brightness. You put the light where you need it; No more old fashion lighting solutions, no more wasted energy.

The lamp is currently available for pre-order through The Fowndry. You can also pick up the earlier emerald version from Firefly’s site.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

The latest episode of “Kids React To” by The Fine Brothers takes on the height of 1980s technology, the Sony Walkman portable audio cassette player. Once the assembled team of precocious children figure out — or, in most cases are told — what the portable cassette player does, it’s a matter of actually getting the tape into the device.

I feel bad for the people that lived in the 90s. I really do.

There’s also a few minutes of bonus kid Walkman reactions.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

One new confirmed piece by graffiti artist Banksy, as well as one new suspected piece, in the United Kingdom has been revealed. The confirmed piece — currently featured on Banksy’s website — is a stencil of two lovers embracing with mobile phones behind each other’s backs. The specific location of this piece is currently unknown.

The second piece, which is suspected to be but not confirmed as a Banksy piece, features three men in coats with sunglasses and old reel-to-reel spy gear outside a phone booth. The suspected Banksy is located in Cheltenham, a borough of Gloucestershire, England.

images via StreetArtNews (2), Banksy

via StreetArtNews (1), StreetArtNews (2)

The instantly recognizable drum fill from the 1981 Phil Collins hit single “In The Air Tonight” is looped for a full 30 minutes in this 2013 video from YouTube user, Kramer Klein. The reverb-heavy drums, often considered one of the era’s defining sounds, was originally recorded through accidental means in the studio.

There's not much to add to the New Scientist's lede here: "Vaginas grown in a lab from the recipients' own cells have been successfully transferred to the body for the first time."

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Firefighters battling an 8-alarm blaze in East Boston also had to contend with some asshole's brand new BMW, which was parked in front of a fire hydrant they needed to access as quickly as possible. They smashed the car's windows and ran the hose right through the front seat.

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In celebration of her new book, The Power of the Sloth, author Lucy Cooke put together this absolutely adorable compilation of squeaking baby sloths from sanctuaries such as the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica whom we wrote about in 2011 and the Aiunau Sloth Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Colombia.

Meet the Sloths

via Slothville

photo via China Out/AFP/Getty Images

Earlier this week Chinese beekeeper She Ping wore a “coat” made up of 450,000 live honey bees—a painful stunt that earned him more than 20 bee stings. The bees were sourced from 28 hives and weighed an estimated 100 pounds. According to Ping, the 40-minute-long experience was hot, suffocating, and nerve-wracking.

photo via AFP/Getty Images

photo via China Daily/Reuters

via The Guardian

(larger)

Los Angeles blogger Isac Walter has worn a different band t-shirt for the past 1,000 days in a row and then wrote about each shirt on his blog, Minor Thread. He wants to see how long he could go without wearing the same t-shirt twice.

I wanted to show in perspective what a 1000 blog posts look like in reality. So I imagined up this idea to fill a photo studio wall and this is what it looks like. Took me 4 days and with the gracious help of Day 19 and his studio XIX Studios in Eagle Rock, CA a lot of help from my wife the photographer here Emily Shur a few really great friends Victor, Lacey, and Matt I managed to erect this thing in a few days. People kept asking me what are you doing, and why? My answer was always the same. I dunno, and because I can.

images via Minor Thread, theminorthread

via ANIMAL

An idiot is potentially in trouble over a disturbing (now-deleted) Vine video of a toddler smoking weed— if the internet can find the original uploader, anyway. So far, the Reddit investigation is going only slightly better than the time Reddit solved the Boston Marathon bombing.

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French juggler Lindzee Poi manipulates a quartet of juggling rings so as to make them appear as if they’re rotating around one another in the video “Amelymeloptical Illusion”. Set to “Comptine d’un Autre Ete,” a classical piano piece from the Amelie soundtrack, the piece is the latest in a number of videos of the juggler manipulating a variety of different instruments.

via Daily Picks and Flicks

South Carolina-based animal photographer Vincent J Musi snapped this series of skunk owners holding their beloved pets as part of a recent National Geographic cover story on “exotic” pet ownership. The shots were taken in a makeshift studio set up at Skunk Fest, an event for skunk owners held each year in Ohio.

The idea was to photograph the same kind of animal and show the diversity of ownership. What does an exotic pet owner look like? As you can see, they are as diverse as the animals they love. Their relationship no different than one might hope to have with a dog or cat.

Skunk Fest 2014 will be held on September 13th in North Ridgeville, OH. The event includes skunk education, adoption and a skunk costume contest. Registration is $10 for the first skunk and $5 for each additional skunk. Non-skunk owners are invited to attend as well.

photos via National Geographic

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In this video from JukinVideo, a prankster father drenches a group of kids by filling up and exploding a giant water balloon on top of a trampoline. The children were laying down underneath the trampoline, so they really had no choice but to take the huge blast of water to the face.

via Daily Picks and Flicks

Earlier this month Ronnie Fieg took to Twitter to announce a new project in the most efficient way possible: “Next up, Clarks.” He followed up the terse statement with second tweet that promised a new silhouette with the venerable British footwear brand, and a second subsequent post that described a project that filled “what’s missing in the game,” as opposed to reworking yet another desert boot or Wallabee. Today, Ronnie revealed the shoe on his personal Instagram — the Ronnie Fieg x Clarks Kildare. Wearing two-tone color blocking with perforated detailing on the toes, collar and tongue, the lace-ups sit on crepe soles to present a look that’s both familiar and new. Stay tuned for release details.

Read the rest of Ronnie Fieg x Clarks Kildare

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Post tags: Clarks Originals, Ronnie Fieg

The post Ronnie Fieg x Clarks Kildare appeared first on FreshnessMag.

Marred by controversies, cost overruns and political unrest, the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil is off to a rough start even before the first game.  Despite the difficulties and challenges ahead, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff reassured FIFA’s President Sepp Blatter that her country will be ready to host the game come June 12th.  In the meantime, Nike is getting ready for the world’s most popular sporting event with a number of exclusive offerings, like these Air Max 1s.

Known as the Nike Air Max 1 FB Premium as well as the Nike Air Max 1 “Mercurial” Pack, each within the quartet is a doppelganger of a Mercurial boot from Nike Soccer.  It starts off with the 1998 Nike Mercurial I R9, the very first model from the Mercurial line. Then the pack progresses to the 2002 Nike Mercurial Vapor I R9, the 2009 Nike Mercurial Vapor III R9 and finally the 2010 Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly II Elite.

Emphasizing not just the off-the-pitch lifestyle of soccer fans but a timeline of ever improving gear on-the-pitch, the Nike Air Max 1 FB Premium “Mercurial” Pack will be available starting this Saturday, April 12th, at select Nike Sportswear retailers with “Quickstrike” account worldwide.

Read the rest of Nike Air Max 1 FB Premium – “Mercurial” Pack

© Poe for FreshnessMag, 2014. | Permalink | No comment | Follow us: Facebook | Twitter
Post tags: 2014 FIFA World Cup, FIFA, FIFA World Cup, Nike, Nike Soccer, Nike Sportswear

The post Nike Air Max 1 FB Premium – “Mercurial” Pack appeared first on FreshnessMag.

Milan 2014: architect David Adjaye is showing his debut furniture collection for Knoll in Milan this week, which is now available in new colours. (more...)

To celebrate the 60th birthday of Jackie Chan, artist Hong Yi created a portrait of the actor out of 64,000 chopsticks. This making-of video (featuring a cameo by Jackie Chan) shows how Yi constructed the portrait out of bundled chopsticks.

photo via Hong Yi

via Foodiggity

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‘Tiny Sydney,’ a short film by Australia photographer Filippo Rivetti, takes a time-lapsed trip around the New South Wales state capital Sydney filtered through a tilt-shifted technique that makes the city appear in miniature. The shoot, commissioned by travel site Expedia, was filmed from a number of Sydney landmarks, including Bondi Beach, the Sydney Tower Eye and Pylon Lookout.

via Vimeo Staff Picks

The Comedy Central star will sit behind the desk after David Letterman retires next year, CBS announced Thursday.

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The kids. Who knows why they do what they do? Like these young cops and government bureaucrats in downtown Bangkok who've decided to start some gangs. Mexican gangs. With cholo clothes and tats and bikes and throwin' signs and shit. Goodness, IT'S A TREND:

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Bad news if you like shitty hot sauce: On Wednesday, the Irwindale City Council declared the factory that produces Sriracha a public nuisance. The factory now has 90 days to find a way to stop the odor, which residents say burns their eyes and throats, causing heartburn, nose bleeds, and inflamed asthma.

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Soaked in Bleach, the upcoming docudrama directed by Act of Valor producer Benjamin Statler, is a reexamination of the circumstances surrounding the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain in 1994. The film mixes interviews with those involved in the investigation like private investigator Tom Grant with dramatic reenactments of the event’s aftermath.

Cobain’s death was ruled a suicide by the police (a reported self-inflicted gunshot wound), but doubts have circulated for twenty years as to the legitimacy of this ruling, especially due to the work of Mr. Grant, a former L.A. County Sheriff’s detective, who did his own investigation and determined there was significant empirical and circumstantial evidence to conclude that foul play could very well have occurred.

The film’s Facebook page lists Soaked in Bleach as “coming soon in 2014.” The movie’s title taken from a lyric in “Come as You Are,” the second single off of the band’s major label debut, Nevermind.

via Boing Boing

CBGB, The Bowery, East Village

Photographers James and Karla Murray began documenting the disappearing storefronts of of New York City in 2004 and were so moved by the gentrifying landscape that they published their resulting photographs in the 2009 book STOREFRONT:The Disappearing Face of New York. In their newest project, the Murray’s revisited the same storefronts ten years later and again, documented what they found.

When the original 2nd Avenue Deli in the East Village closed in 2006 after the rent was increased from $24,000 a month to $33,000 a month, and a Chase Bank took over the space, we knew the contrast of before and after was severe. Another startling change in the East Village was the closure of CBGB in 2006 after it lost its lease. It was replaced by a high-end fashion boutique, John Varvatos, which initially to us seemed out-of-place on the Bowery. No iconic locale seemed safe any longer. Just like with CBGB’s, we were shocked when Lenox Lounge in Harlem closed on December 31, 2012, after a lease dispute. The East Village’s Mars Bar closed in 2011, was torn down, and replaced by a luxury condo with a soon-to-be-opened TD Bank on the ground floor space…The purpose of the photos in the before-and-after project is to clearly spell out and provide documentation of not only what storefronts have been lost, but also what is often lacking in the commercial space’s replacement. Until you place them side-by-side and really look at the two photos, you cannot get the true sense of loss experienced by the neighborhood. – Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York

Mars Bar, corner of 2nd Ave. and East 1st St. East Village

2nd Ave Deli – 2nd Avenue at East 10th Street East Village

Garden Joe’s, Bleecker Street at Carmine Street, Greenwich Village

Lismore Hosiery, corner of Grand Street and Ludlow Street, Lower East Side

Marty & Son, Harlem

Optimo Cigar, Union Square

images by James and Karla Murray

via Gothamist

Back in March, Honda took the world record for fastest lawn mower by attaining 116 MPH with their custom high performance Mean Mower. The lawn mower features a custom frame, suspension and wheels borrowed from an ATV, a 6-speed transmission, and a 109 HP Honda motorcycle engine. Top Gear writer Piers Ward piloted the mower in the record attempt—the Stig drove it around a racetrack in a segment last year.

photo via Guinness World Records

via Autoblog